‘Arrow,’ Season 1, Episode 6, ‘Legacies’: TV Recap

A week ago, our hero Oliver Queen had fooled everyone into thinking he was not the “Hooded Vigilante” (also known as Arrow) by having his bodyguard, Digg, pretend to be The Hood while Oliver was in police custody. But, Oliver has bigger fish to fry because his mother is part of a cabal of evil, rich people led by a mysterious “Well-dressed man.” Oliver is also continually having flashbacks to his 5 years on the island, 5 years that changed him from a whiney playboy into a honed vigilante machine! His nemesis on the island was a masked murderer known as Deathstroke.

So, let’s see what all our players are up to in tonight’s episode.

The action starts with a bank robbery. The robbers are all wearing hockey masks with playing cards on the face. The robbery goes bad, fast, when one of the people in the bank is a cop and the robbers shoot him. The bank is quickly surrounded by Starling City’s finest. Just when it looks like the bad guys are cornered, they escape through a hole in the floor which leads to a drain pipe.

At Arrow’s hideout, Oliver and Digg are doing hand-to-hand combat training with a couple metal sticks. They finish and Oliver points out this week’s bad rich guy target, someone named Scott Morgan. Digg is more interested in the bank robbers, who have a pattern of hitting multiple banks in each city they visit. That means Starling City is going to get hit again. Oliver and Digg get in an argument. Oliver only wants to go after people on his father’s “black book list,” not the bank robbers.

Flashback time. Oliver is huddled in the cave on the island. He has his father’s black book but the pages are blank. He tears a page out and tosses it in the fire for heat. Suddenly, he is grabbed by his father’s ghost! Whoa!!

We check in with Oliver’s ex-girlfriend, Laurel, who is now a lawyer for poor clients who cannot pay anything. Her office is running out of funding. Oliver’s best friend, Tommy, shows up to ask Laurel on a date… just as her legal clinic is in dire trouble. His timing is bad.

At the Queen family mansion, Oliver’s mother, Moira, tells Oliver and his sister that an old family friend, Carter Bowen, is coming over for brunch. Moira apparently always admired Carter. Digg calls Oliver and reports that Arrow’s latest target, Scott Morgan, just tried to commit suicide. Oliver heads to the hospital to find out what is going on.

Turns out Digg was lying. He only wanted to get Oliver to the hospital so Oliver could see the police officer wounded in the bank robbery. Digg has convinced him. Oliver says, “lets go catch some bank robbers!”

Back at Laurel’s office, Tommy has figured out how to court her. He is offering to hold a big fundraiser for her legal charity. Laurel knows he “just wants to get into my pants,” but she accepts his offer.

Meanwhile, Oliver has been studying videotapes and evidence of the bank robbery that he got by sneaking into police HQ. He is really good at putting evidence together – and the show doesn’t want to bog us down with investigative stuff – so Oliver is able to quickly figure out that the bank robbers are actually a family of four operating together.

Time for the Queen family brunch with the Bowens. Carter Bowen is a very successful surgeon… and a total jerk, really full of himself. Frankly, I am not sure why this side-plot is being forced upon us. Digg comes into the brunch and secretly tells Oliver that another bank is being robbed. They figure out where the robbers are likely to be making a getaway and, somehow Arrow is able to arrive there in time to confront them. But, the police are also in pursuit, allowing the robbers to get away.

The bank robbers realize they were lucky to get away, but the hotheaded oldest son (the one who shot the cop) wants to hit one more bank.

Oliver is doing more digging into the bank robbing family, with the help of the beautiful IT woman at Queen Consolidated. She tells him that the father in the family used to work at one of Oliver’s father’s factories, until daddy shut it down and moved all the jobs to China. Oliver feels like his family drove these people to a life of crime.

Back to our island flashback. Ghost Daddy tells Oliver that he must survive. Oliver says he knows he is not going to make it. He puts a gun to his head and says he just wants to die quickly.

In the present, Oliver has figured out a bar that the bank robbing daddy is probably hanging out at. He goes there to see if he can talk papa into giving up his life of crime. The two of them have a conversation laced with double-entendres with Oliver trying to warn the man to do the right thing. Oliver offers him a job at a Queen Consolidated. Papa seems unconvinced.

It is time for Laurel and Tommy’s legal aid fundraiser. He seems genuinely into her and in love. Carter Bowen is at the fundraiser. He charms Laurel a little bit and they go off to have drinks together. I feel sorry for Tommy.

Digg and Oliver have bugged the bank robbing family and know where their next – and last – heist will be. The robbery is at night, so there are no innocent bystanders. Arrow shows up but the hotheaded son has come prepared with a riot shield that he uses to block Arrow’s arrow. As they fight, a security guard shows up with a gun. The guard fires at the hotheaded son and the father jumps in front of the bullet. He is dying and tells Arrow he is sad he turned his son into a criminal.

We again flash to the island, where Oliver is talking to Ghost Dad. Oliver attempts to shoot himself saying he is not the man his father was, but the gun is out of bullets. Ghost Dad admits to being much less of a moral person than his son thinks. He then screams, “Right my wrongs! This is your responsibility now!”

In the present, the bank robbing father dies.

At the fundraiser, Laurel and Carter Bowen are slow dancing. Meanwhile, Oliver’s sister, Thea, is drunk and throwing herself at Tommy. He takes her outside to ensure she doesn’t ruin the party. He’s a good guy. Laurel comes out and tells Tommy she isn’t really interested in Carter. She smiles and says, “I owe you a dance.”

Back at Arrow’s hideout, Oliver and Digg are talking. Oliver feels guilty that bankrobbing daddy was killed. Digg says Oliver’s father would be pretty proud if he could see his son now.

Time left for one final flashback to Oliver on the island. He’s still burning blank pages in the book. But, just as he is about to throw one in, the heat from the flames reveals writing on the page in invisible ink. Oliver puts the whole book close to the flame and the pages fill with the names of daddy’s rich, evil buddies.

The episode closes with a quick scene between Oliver and his mother. She’s upset that he has been disappearing so much and always seems preoccupied. They go out to have a burger together. Awww, isn’t that sweet. I guess it was ok for mom not to be totally evil for at least one episode.

And that is it for this edition of “Arrow.” I again liked the brief island flashbacks and figuring out how Oliver got hold of “the list of names.” This was probably Tommy’s biggest episode and it sure looks like the show is going to get him and Laurel together soon. I wish Digg would do more than just chat with Oliver and pass messages to him.

So, what do you think? Is the show getting better or worse with time? Post your thoughts in the comment section and we can chat about it!

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